Surah At-Tawbah, Ayah 65

The Hypocrites rely on False, Misguided Excuses

`Abdullah bin `Umar said, "During the battle of Tabuk, a man was sitting in a gathering and said, `I have never seen like these reciters of ours! They have the hungriest stomachs, the most lying tongues and are the most cowardice in battle.' A man in the Masjid said, `You lie. You are a hypocrite, and I will surely inform the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ' This statement was conveyed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and also a part of the Qur'an was revealed about it."' `Abdullah bin `Umar said, "I have seen that man afterwards holding onto the shoulders of the Messenger's camel while stones were falling on him, declaring, `O Allah's Messenger! We were only engaged in idle talk and jesting,' while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was reciting,

أَبِاللَّهِ وَءَايَـتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ كُنتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

("Was it at Allah, and His Ayat and His Messenger that you were mocking") 9:65."' Allah said,

لاَ تَعْتَذِرُواْ قَدْ كَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَـنِكُمْ

(Make no excuse; you disbelieved after you had believed.) on account of your statement and mocking,

إِن نَّعْفُ عَن طَآئِفَةٍ مِّنْكُمْ نُعَذِّبْ طَآئِفَةً

(If We pardon some of you, We will punish others among you) for not all of you will be forgiven, some will have to taste the torment,

بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ مُجْرِمِينَ

(because they were criminals), they were criminals because of this terrible, sinful statement.

Announced in verse 64: إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مُخْرِ‌جٌ مَّا تَحْذَرُ‌ونَ (Allah is surely to bring out what you are afraid of) is the news that Allah will expose their conspiracy and mischief. One such event came to pass while returning from the battle of Tabuk when some hypocrites had conspired to kill the Messenger of Allah. Allah Almighty informed him about the plan through angel Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) helping him to bypass the spot where the hypocrites were sitting in ambush. (Mazhari with reference to al-Baghawi)

And Sayyidna ` Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that Allah Ta` ala had in-formed the Holy Prophet al about the names of seventy hypocrites complete with their parentage and addresses. But, being the universal mercy, he did not disclose these before his people. (Mazhari)

Those who are engrossed in worldly considerations and therefore are not able to support God’s religion—rising above their reservations—are generally people of status in society. In order to keep their position intact, they try to spoil the image of those who have risen in true Islam. They run campaigns of false propaganda against them, devising different ways to distort their image, such as ferreting out various points in their statements which they claim to be objectionable. Such people forget that this is a very serious matter. For their part they are simply opposing the people of Faith, but it amounts to opposing God Himself; it is like setting themselves up as adversaries of God. Had these people admitted their wrongdoing, instead of trying to establish their innocence, and had they been the well-wishers of the believers at least in their hearts, they would perhaps have been treated as pardonable. But having adopted an obstinate and inimical attitude, they have written their names on the list of God’s enemies. Now, for them, there is nothing but dishonour and divine retribution. Fear of God softens a person’s heart. He patiently listens even to people’s baseless utterances—to such an extent that the hypocrites start saying that that person seems to be a simpleton, that he is unable to fully understand the points being made.